My daughter, Junior, does very well in school: 4.0 UW, 4.6 W GPA, 34 ACT, lots of APs. No decision on a major yet – likely a science or engineering. Once we take size (5,000-15,000), location ( midwest and West Coast plus Fordham in NY) and ranking (top 75) into account, we are left with about 30 schools. What she REALLY wants in a school is a collaborative environment – not overly competitive. Any ideas on how to evaluate for that?
Good question! I hope someone provide a good general resource. Otherwise, it might require a lot of research to get a feel for different schools. I’m a big fan of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) primarily because it is collaborative. Top 75 science/engineering school. Very nice campus, nice neighborhood, downtown is undergoing a major renovation. Students work on group projects from freshman year. Learning is very hands on. Vibe on campus seems great. Graduates earn some of the highest starting salaries of any school.
We have two family members at Purdue. It seems to really provide great opportunities for students to work together in the lab and on engineering projects. It might be a little big.
Maybe one approach would be to see which schools seem especially active and to do particularly well on projects like the solar vehicle competitions. These are the types of things that seem to foster collaboration, rather than trying simply to get the best grades for grad school. Just an idea. Good luck.
You say you’ve already taken size and location into account for the winnowing process. It might help facilitate help here if you tell us where she is interested in going, region-wise. 
Major may matter. Majors popular with premeds may have a more competitive atmosphere than other majors at the same school.
@TTG - thanks for the tip. As a matter of fact, my son just accepted his admission to Purdue today! Now we’re looking for a college for his sister. He’s not engineering, but perhaps having a brother at the same school would make it feel a little smaller. We will definitely look at WPI - that one wasn’t on our radar yet.
@JenJenJenJen - she really wants the Midwest, but we are also looking at the West Coast as we are in Los Angeles. ( of her she fell in love with Fordham when we saw it, so she’s applying there as well)
My D is heading to WPI in the fall, and the very evident collaborative vibe on campus is the main reason she chose it over other schools.
Two possibilities we have heard for collaborative and engineering include Case Western and University of Rochester.
A lot of it will have to do with the major (ex. pre-med has “weed out” classes at many schools making it more competitive) as well as the friends your daughter will choose to associate with in college. FWIW my S graduated from Fordham (Gabelli) and loved it – I don’t think he felt that he was competing with his friends/fellow students.
I would add University of Pittsburgh. Once you are accepted into engineering, you spend the whole first year deciding on your specific major and not competing with one another to battle it out for your major.
Yes, it does look like Pittsburgh’s engineering majors are open majors for those admitted to the engineering division (completion of the frosh courses for the major with a 2.0 GPA is all that is needed):
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/First-Year/First-Year/Advising/Choosing-A-Major-Banner/
However, students in other divisions face a much higher barrier to admission to an engineering major:
http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/First-Year/First-Year/Transfer-Students/Internal-Transfer-Students/
Collaborative experiences develop some different tool sets which are not developed as well in a lecture hall. The collaboration exercise is an invaluable process. Look for schools that have experience using it.
WPI focuses on the project experience from day one as they actually design many first year courses around group project themes. Group projects lead to collaboration. Collaboration broadens the healthy competitive spirit to accommodate peer opinion. Apple reports that teams like this develop better phones.
Old school engineering says that pure competition is the source of all fruitful development. We used to call it the “boot camp” approach to education. Isolate yourself in a room, study harder and you will become a better engineer. Up to a point, this is a good exercise. However, after studying the ball handling, a player needs to learn when to pass the ball.
Collaboration is not only more friendly, but actually leads to greater productivity in a world where teams are now required to attack complex engineering and research problems.
It might not hurt to join a sports team while you are in college.
It is disconcerting to me that “premeds” may still be in “boot camp” as I am an old man who needs to communicate frequently with doctors. Better communication brings better results.
I don’t know about collaborative but Miami of Ohio is very undergraduate focused. It is at the upper end of her desired size (about 16k) and just below in national ranking (79). It looks like a good match academically and is quintessential midwest campus and college town.
If what she wants is collaborative engineering, you can’t beat Olin. But it’s very competitive to get into.